MISSING “IN ACTION” … The MYSTERY DISAPPEARANCES IN THE BIBLE – and the best is yet to come
There are Three “Mystery” Disappearances in the Bible … four, if you count the Ascension of Jesus Christ but let us confine ourselves to the ordinary men who were “missing in action” never to be seen again by the mortals who knew them best.
Enoch … the “intimate” with God, Moses … the deliverer, Elijah the Prophet … we know without any speculation that Enoch and Elijah were suddenly “exited” supernaturally. The controversy regarding Moses, is in the phrase that “God buried him” but no grave was ever found, Deuteronomy 34; 5, 6 (not surprising in the waste howling wilderness of today’s Jordan with it’s terrain, its mountains and gullies) in Matthew 17 Moses appears with Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration giving some ammunition to the argument that he’d never died but, like Enoch and Elijah, was translated … he certainly “disappeared without trace”
Each of those that miraculously “disappeared” had a unique “role” Enoch was the intimate with God in fellowship, “pleasing God” Hebrews 11;5. Jude reveals another amazing fact in verse 14 of his pungent Letter … Enoch, he declares, prophesied the Second Coming and the great Judgment that is yet to be.
Moses was the Great Leader, and Deliverer … flawed but “famous” for his meekness and his faithfulness. Elijah went out in a blaze of glory … A Prophet, human indeed, but faithful to The Message of Holiness in a corrupted era when Israel had been led astray by its tainted, twisted Leadership.
All These were Old Testament Prophets … buffeted, but not “bowed” (except momentarily) … holy in intent, human in nature, but there is a New Day coming … when a host embodying all the ministries of Enoch, Moses and Elijah will suddenly be “Missing in Action”
The Church of Jesus Christ will one day soon, be “caught away” at the sound of The Trumpet of God, 1 Corinthians 15;52 and 1 Thessalonians 4;16. This Church is international and interdenominational … it is prophetic and delivering, yes, flawed and failing at times, but pure of heart, spotless in intent and faithful to its Message.
Matthew 24;36-44 speaks of the suddenness of the Departure for the Prepared, those “watching and working” multitude of believers.
Illustrative of this imminent departure are; Noah and his family, Lot and some of his family … “righteous amid the decadence” of their time and locale, and yet a witness to the Holiness of God, suddenly removed, but not without warning … and then, widespread Judgment falls.
This is the Pattern for The “Rapture” of the True, obedient Church … a Witness, waiting and expectant … whisked away, “Missing in Action” … What a Day that will be, but lest we get so consumed with its glories remember the implication for the Unprepared, the Unheeding, the Complacent and the Compromising … “Left” behind to an awful fate.
May that fact cause us to cry out in compassionate intercession to God for Souls, and for revival within the Church of Jesus …
TODAY … Are you, of “the number” that will be Missing in Action … very soon?